RAC Launches New Online Health Information Technology Toolkit
New Health Information Technology Resource Targets Rural Health Providers
January 26, 2012 (RAConline.org) - A new online toolkit will serve as a pilot program for providing health information technology (HIT) resources to rural health care providers. The toolkit, developed by the Rural Assistance Center (RAC) and the National Rural Health Resource Center (The Center) is designed to help rural providers find resources for HIT, electronic health records (EHR), meaningful use and related topics. Funding for the toolkit, available at http://www.raconline.org/hit/, is provided by the federal Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP).
“HIT is critically important for rural communities and this toolkit is one way to help rural health care providers get projects up and running,” explains Kristine Sande, RAC program director. “While rural communities have seen many advances and innovation in using EHRs and HIT networks, they still face a number of challenges.”
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Sebelius says there’s light at the end of the tunnel for rural Americans
by Lindsey Corey
January 30, 2012 (Rural Health Voices) - Geography shouldn’t be a determinant of health care quality, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said as she kicked off the National Rural Health Association’s Rural Health Policy Institute this morning.
She told a record crowd of rural health professionals from all 50 states that there’s hope in rural health.
“When you’ve worked on rural health as long as all of us have, sometimes it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Sebelius said. “Today I can tell you there’s a light shining brightly. We have the power and momentum to bring fairness and equality to rural America.”
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Adoption of Health Information Technology in Rural Health Clinics
National Rural Health Resource Center
January 27, 2012 (RAConline.org) - As the nation, including rural areas, moves swiftly toward the adoption of health information technology (HIT), the progress by the Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) in adopting and implementing HIT remains unknown. There are approximately 3,800 RHCs located throughout the United States, yet an aggregate catalogue and contact list for all currently operating RHCs does not exist. To address these issues, the Technical Assistance and Services Center (TASC), a program of the National Rural Health Resource Center, and the Maine Rural Health Research Center (MRHRC) at the University of Southern Maine are developing a database of RHCs and will be utilizing this information to conduct a national survey focusing on meaningful use of HIT by RHCs.
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Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis announces proposed rulemaking to
implement statutory amendments to Family and Medical Leave Act
Rule would expand military family leave provisions, incorporate
special eligibility provision for airline flight crew employees
January 30, 2012 (US Dept. of Labor News Release) - Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis today announced that the U.S. Department of Labor is issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking to implement new statutory amendments to the Family and Medical Leave Act that would expand military family leave provisions and incorporate a special eligibility provision for airline flight crew employees.
The FMLA, enacted in 1993, entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons.
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Obama On Health Insurance Reform: 'I Won't Go Back' (State Of The Union Excerpts)
January 24, 2012 (Kaiser Health News) - In his State of the Union speech, President Barack Obama made just one explicit mention of the 2010 health law. Here is a transcript of the few parts of his speech that mentioned health care issues:
Innovation also demands basic research. Today, the discoveries taking place in our federally-financed labs and universities could lead to new treatments that kill cancer cells but leave healthy ones untouched. ...
I will not go back to the days when health insurance companies had unchecked power to cancel your policy, deny your coverage, or charge women differently than men. ...
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Why Men From Rural Communities Avoid Seeking Mental Health Counseling
January 27, 2012 (GoodTherapy.org) - Men, in general, are far less likely than women to seek professional help for mental health problems. But a new study, led by Joseph H. Hammer and David L. Vogel of the Department of Psychology at Iowa State University, suggests that men from rural communities are even more resistant than urban-dwelling men when it comes to getting psychological counseling. The study expands upon previous research by the team and explores the factors that create barriers to treatment. For example, in the study, Hammer and colleagues identified self-stigma as the primary reason that men from rural areas do not reach out for help.
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Filling the gap:
Rural clinics help provide health care for million
by Tom Smith and Hannah Mask
January 26, 2012 (TimesDaily.com) - Evelyn Ashton has been going to Phil Campbell Medical Clinic for 20 years.
She's convinced if not for the down home personal care she receives at the clinic, she would not be getting the same kind of health care at another, larger facility.
"It's convenient and that's important. I love that it's just around the corner," said the Phil Campbell resident. "But as important as that is, they treat me like family. I'm not just a patient to them. They care about me."
Ashton is among the approximate 16 percent of the national population living in a rural community. More than 60 percent of rural residents live in counties adjacent to urban areas, according to a report released by United Health Center for Health and Reform Modernization. Lauderdale County, according to the study, is among 12 Alabama counties considered "urban" by the Alabama Department of Public Health, as defined by federal guidelines that include population per square mile, yet it contains areas that qualify as distinctly rural.
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Outpatient Move Saves Hospital
by Joe Cantlupe
January 30, 2012 (HealthLeaders Media) -
In Aledo, IL, a town of 3,600 tucked in the northwest corner of the state near Iowa, it was a move to outpatient care that saved its 22-licensed-bed critical access Mercer County Hospital, a facility that was nearly shut down because of fiscal and management problems.
The Genesis Health System in Davenport, IA, is in the midst of an agreement with Mercer County, IL, to run the facility. Genesis and Mercer County officials have recommended that it buy the hospital.
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Score! for Two Rural Broadband Teams
by Craid Settles
January 26, 2012 (The Daily Yonder) - Can the strategy that raised enough money for a new Packers' stadium finance a rural broadband network? Communities in Vermont and rural Lancashire, England, have kicked off efforts.
In Green Bay, WI, football fans bought shares in the team to build a new stadium. Local ardor and hustle can raise money for a broadband network, too. Though bumped out of Super Bowl contention, the Green Bay Packers leave broadband advocates with a win: a potent strategy for community ownership of this critical asset.
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More from The Daily Yonder
• Getting Workers to Columbus (January 25, 2012)
• Rural Hotline to the White House (January 27, 2012)
Obama Administration officials, health care leaders join together at Innovation Summit
Summit builds on Affordable Care Act, highlights private, public innovations to improve health care
quality and lower costs
January 26, 2012 (HHS News Release) - Obama Administration officials and a breadth of representatives from across the health care system will meet in Washington [on Thursday, January 26] for a day-long meeting to explore how they can collaborate and improve the quality of health care while at the same time lowering costs.
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